It was only two weeks ago that Marcus Freeman was pounding the podium, the Notre Dame coach expressing his frustration with yet another severely shaky defensive performance in a far-from-comforting win over Purdue.

One could have been forgiven at the time for believing this Irish defense was simply not capable of executing what coordinator Chris Ash wants to do, that Notre Dame would have to get used to playing and winning shootouts if it wanted to keep the season on the rails, much less contend for anything substantial.

And yet, just two weeks later, after beating Boise State 28-7 on Saturday, Freeman was standing at the podium and speaking demonstratively in a far different manner about that same unit, oozing with pride for what it had accomplished.

"To think about where that defense

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